The present invention relates to knuckle type railway car couplers, and in particular, to a latching arrangement for maintaining the coupler locked when the coupler is placed in an inverted position.
In the transportation of bulk commodities such as coal, railway cars are dumped singly or in pairs while coupled in a train. Each car is provided with a rotary type coupler at one end thereof to facilitate rapid sequential emptying of hopper and gondola type railroad freight cars carrying the bulk commodities. The rotary coupler is provided at one car end and a stationary or non-swiveling coupler is provided at the other car end. The rotary coupler is mated to a non-swiveling coupler extending from the adjacent car while the non-swiveling car coupler is mated to a rotary type coupler extending from the car adjacent thereto.
When the car enters a dump or unload station, the car is rotated to an inverted position to produce a gravity release of its contents. During this movement, the car rotates about its rotary coupler while the non-swiveling coupler rotates with the car.
Heretofore, when the cars are rotated, the rotary lock-lift assembly employed with Association of American Railroad (AAR) type "F" couplers may be inadvertently actuated to shift the coupler lock to an unlocked position. When the cars are returned to their normal, upright position, the coupler lock may fail to return to its locked position, rendering the associated cars candidates for unintentional separation during normal operation of the train.